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Books > Humanities > History > World history > BCE to 500 CE

From Autothanasia to Suicide - Self-killing in Classical Antiquity (Hardcover): Anton J.L.Van Hooff From Autothanasia to Suicide - Self-killing in Classical Antiquity (Hardcover)
Anton J.L.Van Hooff
R4,504 Discovery Miles 45 040 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Autothanasia and suicide; is there a moral difference? Self-killing was as frequent in the Greco-Roman world as it is now, but its sociological profile, its motives and methods were at considerable variance. This study covers the facts, attitudes and reflections of philosophers and theologians concerning self-killing. Using almost 1000 case studies, Van Hooff investigates suicides caused by love, insanity, guilt - even the use of suicide as a deliberate pollution of an enemy's house. Methods of suicide are discussed and ancient popular morality is analyzed as it appears in the various media: in drama, light verse, law, burial customs, pictures and even jokes. Van Hooff traces the development of the concept of self-murder in philosophical and religious thinking, and uncovers the roots of the Christian abhorrence of suicide.

Image and Idea in Fifth Century Greece - Art and Literature After the Persian Wars (Hardcover, annotated edition): E.D. Francis Image and Idea in Fifth Century Greece - Art and Literature After the Persian Wars (Hardcover, annotated edition)
E.D. Francis
R3,464 Discovery Miles 34 640 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

E.D. Francis held that the ancient world was a unity in which concerns of the day were reflected in literary works and the language of pictorial and sculptural representations. His theories, which challenge contemporary views of Attic civilization and its artistic and literary productions, were presented as the prestigious Waynflete lectures at Oxford in 1983 and are published here for the first time. IMAGE AND IDEA IN FIFTH CENTURY GREECE constitutes the first book-length application of the controversial dating of fifth century Greek art pioneered by Francis and Michael Vickers. If Francis' arguments are correct, the pan-Hellenic construction of temples, erection of dedicatory statues, and the general joie de vivre to be found in the artifacts of the late archaic period can be seen as physical manifestations of Greek victory over the Persians in 480 and 479. Embodying some of the principal arguments for the importance of Persian influence on Greek art and civilization, IMAGE AND IDEA has important implications for our understanding of Attic culture.

Byzantine Military Rhetoric in the Ninth Century - A Translation of the Anonymi Byzantini Rhetorica Militaris (Paperback):... Byzantine Military Rhetoric in the Ninth Century - A Translation of the Anonymi Byzantini Rhetorica Militaris (Paperback)
Georgios Theotokis, Dimitrios Sidiropoulos
R565 Discovery Miles 5 650 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Byzantine Military Rhetoric in the Ninth Century is the first English translation of the ninth-century Anonymi Byzantini Rhetorica Militaris. This influential text offers a valuable insight into the warrior ethic of the period, the role of religion in the justification of war, and the view of other military cultures by the Byzantine elite. It also played a crucial role in the compilation of the tenth-century Taktika and Constantine VII's harangues during a period of intense military activity for the Byzantine Empire on its eastern borders. Including a detailed commentary and critical introduction to the author and the structure of the text, this book will appeal to all those interested in Byzantine political ideology and military history.

Medieval Greece - Encounters Between Latins, Greeks and Others in the Dodecanese and the Mani (Paperback): Michael Heslop Medieval Greece - Encounters Between Latins, Greeks and Others in the Dodecanese and the Mani (Paperback)
Michael Heslop
R1,181 Discovery Miles 11 810 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Medieval Greece brings together twelve articles by historian Michael Heslop, showcasing his long-standing interest in the medieval castles of Greece. Ten of the articles in this volume focus on the Dodecanese islands, mainly Rhodes, at the time of their rule by the Hospitallers during the period 1306-1522. Scholarly and popular interest in the military orders has grown substantially over the last twenty years, but comparatively little has been written about the Hospitaller Dodecanese. What distinguishes this work is the author's use of hitherto unpublished documents from the Hospitaller archives in Malta and his assiduous field work on the island sites discussed. Heslop's work on the Hospitallers on the island of Rhodes has also enabled him to put together an important gazetteer of place-names in the countryside of Rhodes, published here for the first time. The remaining two chapters of the collection summarize ground-breaking detective work to locate Villehardouin's 'lost' castle of Grand Magne in the Mani, and present a wider study of Byzantine fortifications in medieval Greece. This book will appeal to scholars and students of medieval history, and to all those interested in the history of the Hospitallers. (CS1093).

Freewomen, Patriarchal Authority, and the Accusation of Prostitution (Paperback): Stephanie Lynn Budin Freewomen, Patriarchal Authority, and the Accusation of Prostitution (Paperback)
Stephanie Lynn Budin
R1,193 Discovery Miles 11 930 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Examining freewomen in Mesopotamian society, ancient Greek hetaira, Renaissance Italy courtesans, historical and modern Japanese geisha, and the Hindu devadasi of India, Stephanie Lynn Budin makes a wide-ranging study of independent women who have historically been dismissed as prostitutes. The purpose of this book is to rectify a well-entrenched misunderstanding about a category of women existing throughout world history-women who were not (and are not) under patriarchal authority, here called "Freewomen." Having neither father nor husband, and not being bound to any religious authority monitoring their sexuality, these women are understood to be prostitutes, and the terminology designating them appears as such in dictionaries and common parlance. This book examines five case studies of such women: the Mesopotamian harimtu, the Greek hetaira, the Italian cortigiana "onesta", the Japanese geisha, and the Indian devadasi. Thus the book goes from the dawn of written history to the present day, from ancient Europe and the Near East through modern Asia, comparatively examining how each of these cultures had its own version of the Freewoman and what this meant in terms of sexuality, gender, and culture. This work also considers the historiographic infelicities that gave rise and continuance to this misreading of the historic and ethnographic record. This engaging and provocative study will be of great interest to students and scholars working in Gender and Sexuality Studies, Women's History, Classical Studies, Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies, Asian Studies, World Cultures, and Historiography.

Ethos, Logos, and Perspective - Studies in Late Byzantine Rhetoric (Hardcover): Florin Leonte Ethos, Logos, and Perspective - Studies in Late Byzantine Rhetoric (Hardcover)
Florin Leonte
R3,758 Discovery Miles 37 580 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Ethos, Logos, and Perspective represents the first comprehensive study of late Byzantine court rhetorical praise as a general phenomenon surfacing in many types of rhetorical epideictic compositions dating from the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries: panegyrics, encomia, city descriptions, encomiastic verses, or letters. The aim of this book is to reconstruct the two perspectives, idealism and pragmatism, that shaped authorial choices in matters of rhetorical style and composition. This study uncovers a little-known period in the history of Byzantine rhetoric. Proceeding from a nuanced understanding of the ancient concepts of ethos and logos, it analyzes the rhetoric of Byzantine praise in a modern theoretical framework. Unlike other previous studies of Byzantine rhetoric, the present research traces the structures and meanings that ultimately influenced the political attitudes and values circulating in the last century of Byzantine history. Another feature of this book is that it offers translations and discussions of important passages from the late Byzantine rhetoric, a corpus of texts that only recently has started to receive attention. This book is addressed to both a specialized audience who is interested in a new approach to Byzantine literary culture as well as to students who readers will become acquainted with and how various praise techniques and themes permeated other aspects of Byzantine literary culture like moral and spiritual advice. In addition, readers will also find informative approaches on the main authors and genres of late Byzantine rhetoric.

Gifts for the Gods - Ancient Egyptian Animal Mummies and the British (Paperback): Lidija M. Mcknight, Stephanie Atherton-Woolham Gifts for the Gods - Ancient Egyptian Animal Mummies and the British (Paperback)
Lidija M. Mcknight, Stephanie Atherton-Woolham
R747 Discovery Miles 7 470 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Gifts for the Gods is an enlightening and richly illustrated book on animal mummies from ancient Egypt. Introducing readers to the wealth of animal mummies in British museums and private collections, this fascinating collection focuses on the prevalent type of animal mummy to be found in Britain: the votive offering. In a series of chapters written by experts in their field, Gifts for the Gods details the role of animals in ancient Egypt and in museum collections. It concentrates on the unique relationship of British explorers, travellers, archaeologists, curators and scientists with this material. The book describes a best-practice protocol for the scientific study of animal mummies by the Ancient Egyptian Animal Bio Bank team, whilst acknowledging that the current research represents only the beginning of a much larger task.

Ancient Britain (Paperback): James Dyer Ancient Britain (Paperback)
James Dyer
R1,171 Discovery Miles 11 710 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This book is for anyone starting out to understand the prehistoric life of Britain from the first human occupation 450,000 years ago, until the Roman conquest in AD 43. James Dyer here succeeds in bringing to life a thriving picture of the people and customs of the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, based on the sometimes sparse clues presented by prehistoric archaeological sites across Britain. For many readers, Ancient Britain will provide the first chance to get to grips with the present state of our knowledge of prehistoric agriculture, settlement, trade and ritual. The rise of power, with the development of a class system at the hands of the first metal users, is charted through to the growth of wealth and the emergence of a warlike and advanced Iron Age society - a society that was nonetheless unable to withstand the might of Rome. With over 130 illustrations and photographs, including a number of specially drawn reconstructions, this highly visual book is an ideal primer for all students of prehistory and all those who are simply interested in the subject.

The Horde - How the Mongols Changed the World (Paperback): Marie Favereau The Horde - How the Mongols Changed the World (Paperback)
Marie Favereau
R509 R414 Discovery Miles 4 140 Save R95 (19%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Cundill Prize Finalist A Financial Times Book of the Year A Spectator Book of the Year A Five Books Book of the Year The Mongols are known for one thing: conquest. But in this first comprehensive history of the Horde, the western portion of the Mongol empire that arose after the death of Chinggis Khan, Marie Favereau takes us inside one of the most powerful engines of economic integration in world history to show that their accomplishments extended far beyond the battlefield. Central to the extraordinary commercial boom that brought distant civilizations in contact for the first time, the Horde had a unique political regime-a complex power-sharing arrangement between the khan and nobility-that rewarded skillful administrators and fostered a mobile, innovative economic order. From their capital on the lower Volga River, the Mongols influenced state structures in Russia and across the Islamic world, disseminated sophisticated theories about the natural world, and introduced new ideas of religious tolerance. An eloquent, ambitious, and definitive portrait of an empire that has long been too little understood, The Horde challenges our assumptions that nomads are peripheral to history and makes it clear that we live in a world shaped by Mongols. "The Mongols have been ill-served by history, the victims of an unfortunate mixture of prejudice and perplexity...The Horde flourished, in Favereau's fresh, persuasive telling, precisely because it was not the one-trick homicidal rabble of legend." -Wall Street Journal "Fascinating...The Mongols were a sophisticated people with an impressive talent for government and a sensitive relationship with the natural world...An impressively researched and intelligently reasoned book." -The Times

The Knossos Labyrinth - A New View of the `Palace of Minos' at Knossos (Hardcover): Rodney Castleden The Knossos Labyrinth - A New View of the `Palace of Minos' at Knossos (Hardcover)
Rodney Castleden
R3,918 Discovery Miles 39 180 Ships in 12 - 17 working days




eBook available with sample pages: 0203405005

Plutarch: Volume 47 (Paperback): Geert Roskam Plutarch: Volume 47 (Paperback)
Geert Roskam
R598 R555 Discovery Miles 5 550 Save R43 (7%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Plutarch of Chaeronea is one of the most influential and fascinating authors of antiquity. His Parallel Lives and Moralia are storehouses of challenging questions, valuable insights and interesting observations. Moreover, they contain a wealth of quotations from and references to earlier writers and traditions, and thus provide one of the richest gateways to the ancient world. This book introduces the reader to Plutarch's life and to the different facets of his variegated thinking and writing, such as his tremendous erudition, his Platonism and (moral) philosophy, his interpretation of history and his view of God. Above all, Plutarch stands out as a particularly clever and subtle thinker, driven by a spirit of painstaking enquiry (zetesis) that shows authentic and impressive intellectual honesty and sincere love of the truth. In this respect, as in many others, he remains an inspiring model even for us today.

Birds in Roman Life and Myth (Hardcover): Ashleigh Green Birds in Roman Life and Myth (Hardcover)
Ashleigh Green
R3,762 Discovery Miles 37 620 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This book Offers diverse range of topics to build a broad view of the role of birds in Roman life. Begins by examining birds in omens, augury, and auspices, with particular emphasis on the so-called sacred chickens consulted by magistrates and generals before important decisions. Takes an interdisciplinary approach, draws on many evidence streams, includes literary evidence alongside art, material culture, zooarchaeology, and modern ornithological knowledge to reconstruct fully how Romans lived with, thought about, and exploited birds. Uses a blend of evidence to examine birds as divine messengers, heralds, hunted quarry, domestic flocks, companion animals and more. is an important reference for researchers interested in human-animal relations and animals in the ancient world.

Ring of Stone Circles - Exploring Neolithic Cumbria (Paperback): Stan L. Abbott Ring of Stone Circles - Exploring Neolithic Cumbria (Paperback)
Stan L. Abbott
R308 R252 Discovery Miles 2 520 Save R56 (18%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

To paraphrase L.P. Hartley, "The past is a different country." Stan L Abbott sets out to explore the visible clues to our mysterious past from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages: stone circles. Cumbria boasts more of these monuments than any other English county. Here, our tallest mountains are ringed by almost fifty circles and henges, most of them sited in the foothills or on outlying plateaux. Were these the earliest such monuments in Britain, placing Cumbria at the heart of Neolithic society? And what traces of that society remain today in the roads we travel, the food we eat, the words we speak, our work and play? By observing and comparing many sites in Cumbria and beyond, and researching many sources, a greater understanding emerges. Were some circles built for ritualistic purposes, or perhaps astronomical? Were they burial sites? Or were they just places for people to meet? Illustrated with linocut illustrations by artist Denise Burden, Ring of Stone Circles follows the search for the hidden stories these monuments guard - and might reveal if we get to know them.

Intertextuality in Seneca's Philosophical Writings (Paperback): Myrto Garani, Andreas N. Michalopoulos, Sophia Papaioannou Intertextuality in Seneca's Philosophical Writings (Paperback)
Myrto Garani, Andreas N. Michalopoulos, Sophia Papaioannou
R1,187 Discovery Miles 11 870 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This volume is the first systematic study of Seneca's interaction with earlier literature of a variety of genres and traditions. It examines this interaction and engagement in his prose works, offering interpretative readings that are at once groundbreaking and stimulating to further study. Focusing on the Dialogues, the Naturales quaestiones, and the Moral Epistles, the volume includes multi- perspectival studies of Seneca's interaction with all the great Latin epics (Lucretius, Vergil and Ovid), and discussions of how Seneca's philosophical thought is informed by Hellenistic doxography, forensic rhetoric and declamation, the Homeric tradition, Euripidean tragedy and Greco-Roman mythology. The studies analyzes the philosophy behind Seneca's incorporating exact quotations from earlier tradition (including his criteria of selectivity) and Seneca's interaction with ideas, trends and techniques from different sources, in order to elucidate his philosophical ideas and underscore his original contribution to the discussion of established philosophical traditions. They also provide a fresh interpretation of moral issues with particular application to the Roman worldview as fashioned by the mos maiorum. The volume, finally, features detailed discussion of the ways in which Seneca, the author of philosophical prose, puts forward his stance towards poetics and figures himself as a poet. Intertextuality in Seneca's Philosophical Writings will be of interest not only to those working on Seneca's philosophical works, but also to anyone working on Latin literature and intertextuality in the ancient world.

Homicide in the Attic Orators - Rhetoric, Ideology, and Context (Paperback): Christine Plastow Homicide in the Attic Orators - Rhetoric, Ideology, and Context (Paperback)
Christine Plastow
R1,172 Discovery Miles 11 720 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This study identifies specific features in the legal procedure and social perception of homicide in Athens in the time of the orators and examines how these features affected and were represented and utilised in forensic rhetoric. The socially transgressive nature of the crime in Athens resulted in homicide receiving a distinctive treatment in Athenian law, where it was 'set apart' from other crimes in a number of ways, including the courts in which it was tried, the procedures involved, and the fact that uniquely these laws were attributed to Drakon as mytho-historical lawgiver. Plastow explores how four distinctive features of homicide procedure and law at Athens played out in rhetoric: ideology, pollution, relevance, and the connected issues of motive and intent. Through exploration of these rhetorical themes, the volume also provides insight into the popular perceptions of homicide amongst the Athenians, since the orators' speeches make extensive use of persuasive techniques that tap into the deeply held beliefs and ideologies of the jury members. A secondary aim is to explore the effects of the physical context of delivery on the rhetoric of homicide: the courtroom spaces themselves, whether homicide courts or popular courts, with the variable ideologies that their locations and physical attributes provoked, as well as the aspects of ritual that would have been performed physically during a homicide trial. Homicide in the Attic Orators offers insight into this complex subject, and is of interest to anyone with an interest in Athenian law, rhetoric, and society.

Four Lost Cities - A Secret History of the Urban Age (Paperback): Annalee Newitz Four Lost Cities - A Secret History of the Urban Age (Paperback)
Annalee Newitz
R465 R373 Discovery Miles 3 730 Save R92 (20%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

In Four Lost Cities, acclaimed science journalist Annalee Newitz takes readers on an entertaining and mind-bending adventure into the deep history of urban life. Investigating across the centuries and around the world, Newitz explores the rise and fall of four ancient cities, each the centre of a sophisticated civilisation: the Neolithic site of Catalhoeyuk in Central Turkey, the Roman town of Pompeii on Italy's southern coast, the medieval megacity of Angkor in Cambodia and the indigenous American metropolis Cahokia, which stood beside the Mississippi River where East St. Louis is today. Newitz travels to all four sites and investigates the cutting-edge research in archaeology, revealing the mix of environmental changes and political turmoil that doomed these ancient settlements. Tracing the early development of urban planning, Newitz also introduces us to the often-anonymous workers-slaves, women, immigrants and manual labourers-who built these cities and created monuments that lasted millennia. Four Lost Cities is a journey into the forgotten past but, foreseeing a future in which the majority of people on Earth will be living in cities. It may also reveal something of our own fate.

A Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Architecture (Hardcover): Gwendolyn Leick A Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Architecture (Hardcover)
Gwendolyn Leick
R5,977 Discovery Miles 59 770 Ships in 12 - 17 working days




eBook available with sample pages: 0203041070

Life as Told by a Sapiens to a Neanderthal (Paperback): Juan Jose Millas, Juan Luis Arsuaga Life as Told by a Sapiens to a Neanderthal (Paperback)
Juan Jose Millas, Juan Luis Arsuaga; Translated by Thomas Bunstead, Daniel Hahn
R461 R380 Discovery Miles 3 800 Save R81 (18%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days
Metaphysics and Hermeneutics in the Medieval Platonic Tradition (Paperback): Stephen Gersh Metaphysics and Hermeneutics in the Medieval Platonic Tradition (Paperback)
Stephen Gersh
R1,188 Discovery Miles 11 880 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Metaphysics and Hermeneutics in the Medieval Platonic Tradition consists of twelve essays originally published between 2006 and 2015, dealing with main trends and specific figures within the medieval Platonic tradition. Three essays provide general surveys of the transmission of late ancient thought to the Middle Ages with emphasis on the ancient authors, the themes, and their medieval readers, respectively. The remaining essays deal especially with certain major figures in the Platonic tradition, including pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Iohannes Scottus Eriugena, and Nicholas of Cusa. The principal conceptual aim of the collection is to establish the primacy of hermeneutics within the philosophical program developed by these authors: in other words, to argue that their philosophical activity, substantially albeit not exclusively, consists of the reading and evaluation of authoritative texts. The essays also argue that the role of hermeneutics varies in the course of the tradition between being a means towards the development of metaphysical theory and being an integral component of metaphysics itself. In addition, such changes in the status and application of hermeneutics to metaphysics are shown to be accompanied by a shift from emphasizing the connection between logic and philosophy to emphasizing that between rhetoric and philosophy. The collection of essays fills in a lacuna in the history of philosophy in general between the fifth and the fifteenth centuries. It also initiates a dialogue between the metaphysical hermeneutics of medieval Platonism and certain modern theories of hermeneutics, structuralism, and deconstruction. The book will be of special interest to students of the classical tradition in western thought, and more generally to students of medieval philosophy, theology, history, and literature. (CS1094).

Displays of Cultural Hegemony and Counter-Hegemony in the Late Bronze and Iron Age Levant - The Public Presence of Foreign... Displays of Cultural Hegemony and Counter-Hegemony in the Late Bronze and Iron Age Levant - The Public Presence of Foreign Powers and Local Resistance (Hardcover)
Shane M. Thompson
R3,758 Discovery Miles 37 580 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This volume examines the power relationships between the rulers of the Late Bronze and Iron Age and their subjects in the Levant through the lens of "cultural hegemony". It explores the impact of these foreign powers on all social classes and reconstructs the public presence of cultural control. The book serves to determine the impact of foreign control on the daily lives of those living in the ancient Levant, and offers a means by which to attempt to discuss non-elites in the ancient Near East. It examines expressions of foreign ideology within public performance such as religious expressions and in public places, observable by all social classes, which assert control or dominance over local identity markers. In utilizing textual, epigraphic, and archaeological records, it paints a more complete picture of Levantine society during this time while also drawing upon evidence from neighbouring Anatolia, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. This is a fascinating resource for students and scholars of the ancient Near East, particularly the Levant but also Anatolia, Egypt, and Mesopotamia in the Late Bronze and Iron Age periods. It is also useful for scholars working on power and imperialism across history.

Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws - And Other Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities (Paperback):... Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws - And Other Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities (Paperback)
Adrienne Mayor
R633 R463 Discovery Miles 4 630 Save R170 (27%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

A treasury of astonishing mythic marvels-and the surprising truths behind them Adrienne Mayor is renowned for exploring the borders of history, science, archaeology, anthropology, and popular knowledge to find historical realities and scientific insights-glimmering, long-buried nuggets of truth-embedded in myth, legends, and folklore. Combing through ancient texts and obscure sources, she has spent decades prospecting for intriguing wonders and marvels, historical mysteries, diverting anecdotes, and hidden gems from ancient, medieval, and modern times. Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a treasury of fifty of her most amazing and amusing discoveries. The book explores such subjects as how mirages inspired legends of cities in the sky; the true identity of winged serpents in ancient Egypt; how ghost ships led to the discovery of the Gulf Stream; and the beauty secrets of ancient Amazons. Other pieces examine Arthur Conan Doyle's sea serpent and Geronimo's dragon; Flaubert's obsession with ancient Carthage; ancient tattooing practices; and the strange relationship between wine goblets and women's breasts since the times of Helen of Troy and Marie Antoinette. And there's much, much more. Showcasing Mayor's trademark passion not to demythologize myths, but to uncover the fascinating truths buried beneath them, Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a wonder cabinet of delightful curiosities.

Byzantine Military Rhetoric in the Ninth Century - A Translation of the Anonymi Byzantini Rhetorica Militaris (Hardcover):... Byzantine Military Rhetoric in the Ninth Century - A Translation of the Anonymi Byzantini Rhetorica Militaris (Hardcover)
Georgios Theotokis, Dimitrios Sidiropoulos
R1,496 Discovery Miles 14 960 Ships in 9 - 15 working days

Byzantine Military Rhetoric in the Ninth Century is the first English translation of the ninth-century Anonymi Byzantini Rhetorica Militaris. This influential text offers a valuable insight into the warrior ethic of the period, the role of religion in the justification of war, and the view of other military cultures by the Byzantine elite. It also played a crucial role in the compilation of the tenth-century Taktika and Constantine VII's harangues during a period of intense military activity for the Byzantine Empire on its eastern borders. Including a detailed commentary and critical introduction to the author and the structure of the text, this book will appeal to all those interested in Byzantine political ideology and military history.

Communicating Papal Authority in the Middle Ages (Hardcover): Minoru Ozawa, Georg Strack, Thomas W Smith Communicating Papal Authority in the Middle Ages (Hardcover)
Minoru Ozawa, Georg Strack, Thomas W Smith
R3,758 Discovery Miles 37 580 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This book bridges Japanese and European scholarly approaches to ecclesiastical history to provide new insights into how the papacy conceptualised its authority and attempted to realise and communicate that authority in ecclesiastical and secular spheres across Christendom. Adopting a broad, yet cohesive, temporal and geographical approach that spans the Early to the Late Middle Ages, from Europe to Asia, the book focuses on the different media used to represent authority, the structures through which authority was channelled and the restrictions that popes faced in so doing, and the less certain expression of papal authority on the edges of Christendom. Through twelve chapters that encompass key topics such as anti-popes, artistic representations, preaching, heresy, the crusades, and mission and the East, this interdisciplinary volume brings new perspectives to bear on the medieval papacy. The book demonstrates that the communication of papal authority was a two-way process effected by the popes and their supporters, but also by their enemies who helped to shape concepts of ecclesiastical power. Communicating Papal Authority in the Middle Ages will appeal to researchers and students alike interested in the relationships between the papacy and medieval society and the ways in which the papacy negotiated and expressed its authority in Europe and beyond.

The Philosophy of Early Christianity (Paperback, 2nd edition): George Karamanolis The Philosophy of Early Christianity (Paperback, 2nd edition)
George Karamanolis
R1,166 Discovery Miles 11 660 Ships in 9 - 15 working days

This new edition introduces the reader to the philosophy of early Christianity in the second to fourth centuries AD, and contextualizes the philosophical contributions of early Christians in the framework of the ancient philosophical debates. It examines the first attempts of Christian thinkers to engage with issues such as questions of cosmogony and first principles, freedom of choice, concept formation, and the body-soul relation, as well as later questions like the status of the divine persons of the Trinity. It also aims to show that the philosophy of early Christianity is part of ancient philosophy as a distinct school of thought, being in constant dialogue with the ancient philosophical schools, such as Platonism, Aristotelianism, Stoicism, and even Epicureanism and Scepticism. This book examines in detail the philosophical views of Christian thinkers such as Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Basil, and Gregory of Nyssa, and sheds light in the distinct ways they conceptualized traditional philosophical issues and made some intriguing contributions. The book's core chapters survey the central philosophical concerns of the early Christian thinkers and examines their contributions. These range across natural philosophy, metaphysics, logic and epistemology, psychology, and ethics, and include such questions as how the world came into being, how God relates to the world, the status of matter, how we can gain knowledge, in what sense humans have freedom of choice, what the nature of soul is and how it relates to the body, and how we can attain happiness and salvation. This revised edition takes into account the recent developments in the area of later ancient philosophy, especially in the philosophy of Early Christianity, and integrates them in the relevant chapters, some of which are now heavily expanded. The Philosophy of Early Christianity remains a crucial introduction to the subject for undergraduate and postgraduate students of ancient philosophy and early Christianity, across the disciplines of classics, history, and theology.

Monsters in Greek Literature - Aberrant Bodies in Ancient Greek Cosmogony, Ethnography, and Biology (Paperback): Fiona Mitchell Monsters in Greek Literature - Aberrant Bodies in Ancient Greek Cosmogony, Ethnography, and Biology (Paperback)
Fiona Mitchell
R1,119 Discovery Miles 11 190 Ships in 9 - 15 working days

Monsters in Greek literature are often thought of as creatures which exist in mythological narratives, however, as this book shows, they appear in a much broader range of ancient sources and are used in creation narratives, ethnographic texts, and biology to explore the limits of the human body and of the human world. This book provides an in-depth examination of the role of monstrosity in ancient Greek literature. In the past, monsters in this context have largely been treated as unimportant or analysed on an individual basis. By focusing on genres rather than single creatures, the book provides a greater understanding of how monstrosity and abnormal bodies are used in ancient sources. Very often ideas about monstrosity are used as a contrast against which to examine the nature of what it is to be human, both physically and behaviourally. This book focuses on creation narratives, ethnographic writing, and biological texts. These three genres address the origins of the human world, its spatial limits, and the nature of the human body; by examining monstrosity in these genres we can see the ways in which Greek texts construct the space and time in which people exist and the nature of our bodies. This book is aimed primarily at scholars and students undertaking research, not only those with an interest in monstrosity, but also scholars exploring cultural representations of time (especially the primordial and mythological past), ancient geography and ethnography, and ancient philosophy and science. As the representation of monsters in antiquity was strongly influential on medieval, renaissance, and early modern images and texts, this book will also be relevant to people researching these areas.

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